


Change

by Frankengal



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Pre Cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23743975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frankengal/pseuds/Frankengal
Summary: Julerose
Relationships: Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Change

It had always seemed subtle, in Marinettes opinion. The slow shift between years, their interactions ticking up by only a couple notches. Always ticking up.  
Marinette had always gone to the same school, Lways had been in the same class, as Rose. She was the first in line for hugs, and never had a shortage of energy. Rose would grasp the hand of anyone standing close enough, so often so that some of their classmates had taken to staying on the opposite side of any group Rose was in. Rose had noticed this, but true to her optimistic nature, she told Marinette it did not bother her.  
That changed in their fifth year of school, as they were on the verge of turning ten. Age didn't discourage Rose's touchy feel habits but the boys in class were reluctant to be in her line of sight, let alone close enough to touch. Rose decided that the boys must have been suffering a relapse of the great Fear of Cooties. Marinette was sure to stand near her, with Alix and a single, silent boy named Nathaneael, in case Rose needed to latch on to someone for sheer joy. Marinette couldn't bear to see such happiness squashed for something as simple as a lack of hugs.  
Seventh year brought that very fear to life in the form of Chloe Bourgouis, daughter of the newly elected mayor of Paris. Their school district was unfortunately in the same zone as the Bourgouis family hotel and home. It took a total of three months for Chloe to chip away at Rose's habit for affection. Marinette took to standing between then as Alix hung back to be Rose's anchor. It left her a little hug starved and heartbroken, but she gladly sacrificed her own securities and traded places with the smaller girl to be Chloe's personal verbal punching bag. She wanted to help her friend keep that pure, innocent smile on her face as long as she could.  
Their first semester was hellish, if she had to pick a word to describe it.  
That Christmas vacation, Marinette spent every spare moment hoping and praying that the next semester would be easier on the downtrodden girl.  
It was disorientating returning to school and seeing Rose's transformation. Her long golden hair, her pride and joy growing up, had been cropped close to her scalp. Her usual brightly colored clothes were exchanged for simple, neutral apparel. Black, blue, green, purple... The first week, Rose had been off Chloe's radar. The mayor's daughter would occasionally glance over, an expression of smug satisfaction on her face at the results of her work. Thankfully, she would leave it at that and turn to her next victim.  
It seemed that Marinettes hopes and prayers had gone to waste.  
The second week of second semester, seventh year, proved that assumption wrong. A new student, upon introducing herself in the quietest voice Marinette had ever heard, immediately set off to the back of the classroom to sit by Rose. Her name was Juleka, if she had heard her correctly, and it was easy to see why she thought Rose would be her best option for a seat mate.  
Short, black and purple hair, long-sleeved black and green shirt, dark blue pants, face down turned. She took her spot by Rose and allowed her bangs to cover half of her face.  
Marinette turned in her seat to glance at the strange pair; while the gothic look was suitable on their new classmate, it was strange and out of place on Rose. But the smile the shorter girl shared with her, the gentle touch on her arm...  
That was the Rose Marinette knew.  
Marinette snuck her phone up to take a picture of that moment, hoping she could eventually give it to the pair on some anniversary of their friendship. The girls were still looking at each other with smiles on their faces, and Juleka had put her hand over Rose's on her arm. Marinette felt warmth blooming in her chest at their interaction.  
She just wished she had remembered to turn off the volume on her phone. The sound of the shutter rang out in the otherwise silent room and all eyes turned to her, including Julekas and Rose's. Marinette bobbed her head sheepishly, giving her best friend and their new classmate a thumbs up, and turned to the front of the classroom. In her mind, it was worth inevitably loosing her phone for the day just to capture the moment of a new friendship blooming.  
Even if Chloe decided to ruin the moment.  
"Ha! Who would have thought Dupain-Cheng had a thing for freaky dykes!" Chloe and Sabrina, her disciple since she had arrived, were the only ones to laugh at her words. Several students stood to, presumably, tell Chloe off in terms ranging from simple to vulgar, but Rose beat them to the punch.  
"At least we have hearts, unlike you, you big crybaby daddy's girl!"  
The classroom was as silent as a grave, every pair of eyes turned towards Rose. She stood proudly at her full height of four feet, ten inches, a glare directed at Chloe that could melt an iceberg. Every head turned to Chloe in unison, watching as she gasped, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. She looked as though she had been struck physically rather than verbally.  
The snickers started with Alix, who covered her mouth with her hand and doubled over in gleeful joy. One by one, Marinettes classmates joined in, guffawing at the first time that anyone had truly stood up to the class bully. Mademoiselle Bustier cleared her throat, trying to keep the smile off her face as she attempted to reign in her students attention.  
Everyone was happy to see the old Rose back, in her own happy, energetic element.  
Juleka was the last to join in, covering her lips with her hand, a blush on her cheeks as she laughed quietly. Rose turned to her, beaming widely, and Julekas blush became noticeably darker.  
Chlie stormed halfway out of the classroom before turning back to drag Sabrina out with her.  
Mademoiselle Bustier 'forgot'to take Marinettes phone away, a fact that she tried in vain to take full advantage of. She gave up on taking pictures of the girls when several shots showed up with Julekas face covered in some manner or another. She settled with looking at her first picture of the pair, a strong positive feeling blooming in her chest that her long-time friend might return to her old self with her new best friend by her side. She hoped that her friend would find a new reason to smile like before.  
She did manage to get a picture of their hands clasped together under the desk they shared.  
At the end of the day, they hugged before parting ways.  
By the next day, Rose had dressed in pink once again, glitter evident on her eyelids and a smile on her face. Juleka sat next to her as she had the day before.

_______  
So, this part of the story was an addition a few days later, because I stopped writing when I felt like the storyline was too forced, so the narrative style takes a bit of a turn.  
_____

Every year from that moment on took a turn in Marinettes eyes. Rose and Juleka became visibly more opposite even as they became better friends. Rose kept her hair short and dressed in a style younger than her own age, trading out her plain, bright clothing for frilly dresses and bows, some of which she asked Marinette to design. Marinette was happy to help her friend out. Juleka had exchanged her heavy boots for converse, and grew her hair out, bleaching and deying it dark purple to match her torn leggings.  
Regardless, she remained as pale as she had been from her first day in class.  
During their eighth year, Rose had reverted back to hugging the nearest person at every opportunity. Juleka made a habit of standing next to her.  
By the ninth year, Rose almost exclusively clung to the goth girl. Though Juleka had yet to initiated physical contact, she was always ready to return the affection. She would lean into the shorter girl with a smile. Their heights changed as Juleka hit a growth spurt, but she took every chance to give the shorter girl a kiss on the top of her head.  
In tenth year, she began to reach out to Rose. Hands on her shoulders, pats on the head, arms slung across her back... They shared earbuds in study hall, as well as prolonged looks into each other's eyes when they thought no one was looking. Marinette looked on with an adoring smile, realizing for the first time that she was a hopeless romantic with a pension for unlikely couples.  
In that year, the 'curse' Juleka claimed she had had been broken.  
The next year, they shared their first kiss on a bus during a zombie apocalypse.  
Marinette had printed out the picture of their first meeting soon after, waiting for them to finally admit they were dating.

That particular change had yet to come. Marinette, in her disguise as Ladybug, faced increasingly difficult challenges with Chat Noir. Hawkmoth had recruited a new supervillain by the name of Mayura, as well as a few disciples that were willingly akumatized. Her first crush seemed to be dating another girl even as she found herself strongly attached to Julekas brother.  
It soon became enough to be a casual observer of the fact that, no matter how many hardships Paris as a whole experienced, Rose and Juleka never changed. They still held hands, they still looked into each other's eyes... They were the picture of all that Marinette wanted for herself.  
She sat by Luka on the bank of the Seine, holding an ice cream cup that was notably different from the first she had gotten from Andre, and she leaned forward to look past her various classmates.  
She could see Rose leaning against Juleka, and she knew that even without the magical ice cream, they would be together forever.


End file.
